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CES 2026 Just Proved Why You Shouldn’t Buy AI…
Eric Fry
Editor, Smart Money
DAILY ISSUE
CES 2026 Just Proved Why You Shouldn’t Buy AI Hype Stocks
Hello, Reader.
Before we dive in today, I want to note a correction in Thursday’s Smart Money.
The first chart of the issue was meant to show Venezuela as the leading country by crude oil reserves. I’ve attached the correct chart below, and we apologize for any confusion.
Now, with that settled, let’s dive into the megatrend headline of the week…
This week’s CES 2026 in Las Vegas starred a long list of big names… like Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM), and, of course, Nvidia Corp. (NVDA).
And these big names touted a string of tech advancements.
- AI chip-maker Qualcomm announced new partnerships with several robotics companies…
- AMD introduced its latest AI PC chip, the Ryzen AI 400 Series processor…
- Robotics company Boston Dynamics debuted its Atlas humanoid robot…
- And Nvidia showed off its revolutionary Vera Rubin AI computing platform.
If it’s not already obvious, notice what all of these tech announcements have in common: artificial intelligence.
At CES 2026 (and the few years before that), the spotlight has been on the hottest AI advancements and the companies responsible for them, each trying to prove its relevance and ability to innovate.
However, just because these companies make the best of the best AI productsdoesn’t mean they’re the best of the best AI stocks.
So, in today’s Smart Money, I’ll explain why investors shouldn’t be distracted by Big Tech’s bright lights… and show you where to find the actually valuable stocks that are hiding amid the hype of today’s AI boom…
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To carry out Trump’s Executive Order #14196 initiative, the administration will have to partner with a handful of U.S. companies that control the “reserve accounts” sitting on trillions of dollars’ worth of untapped natural resources. I’ve spent months digging into this – and I’ve identified three companies that have already been granted “emergency status” and fast-track approvals. I believe their shares could skyrocket once new capital starts moving into the sector. See the three stocks that I expect to be the biggest winners as this plan rolls forward.
High Reward Means High Risk
Let me be clear, AI advancements are still important. They dictate our technological future.
So, for instance, Nvidia’s new Vera Rubin AI platform, coming out later this year, is a big deal.
“Built for the age of agentic AI and reasoning,” Rubin, the chip company claims, is “engineered to master multistep problem-solving and massive long-text workflows at scale.”
The Vera Rubin architecture is a six-chip system that combines a Vera CPU with two Rubin GPUs. These graphics processing units are designed to deliver significant improvements in both speed and power efficiency.
The Vera Rubin AI GPU promises up to five times greater performance and 10 times lower cost per query than Nvidia’s current Blackwell GPUs. In other words, these next-generation GPUs will dramatically lower the cost of using AI, which should allow AI adoption to spread exponentially.
Simply put, Nvidia’s breakthrough accelerates AI adoption. By cutting down the number of GPUs, companies can use those excess units to perform different tasks.
While that’s a great technological advancement, announcements like these keep the company in the precarious position of being overvalued.
Sky-high valuations mean outsized risks. For instance, Nvidia – together with a small group of elite peers – represents almost 35% of the entire S&P 500. This kind of concentration increases the risk and fragility of the entire market.
In my opinion, other companies offer vastly superior potential reward versus the risk than those at the CES showcase do today, even after their glitzy announcements.
What Makes an AI Survivor Stock
Let me introduce you to a group of stocks I call “AI Survivors” – companies that produce products or offer services that AI generally cannot.
They share three main traits…
- Provide high human interaction that can’t be automated
- Create physical goods or experiences that can’t be enjoyed in a virtual world
- Have proven business models with real revenues and profits
Despite this week’s impressive announcements, the companies that attended CES 2026 just don’t make the cut in my book.
When you ask CEOs at pure AI plays where the revenues are, you get theories and projections. That doesn’t mean much to me.
And some of those projections can be way off. For example, in November 2025, Super Micro Computer Inc. (SMCI)announced its first-quarter revenue of $5 billion, far below its previous $6 billion to $7 billion outlook.
I believe companies that are delivering real value that customers will pay for are worth far more than any projections of revenue, no matter how big, promising, or shiny they might be.
And what’s great about AI Survivors is that they can span across several sectors, as seen in my Fry’s Investment Reportportfolio.
For instance, one of my favorite AI Survivor picks, a consumer brand that truly celebrates the human experience, is up 50% in less than three months.
There are more AI Survivors I have my eye on that are quietly growing outside the spotlight today, which will make them incredibly attractive when reality starts taking a bite out of AI stocks.
To learn more about how to carefully invest in today’s AI age, watch my free AI Survivors broadcast here.
Regards,
Eric Fry
Editor, Smart Money
